San Jose Sharks' Dan Boyle gets his season back on track

San Jose Sharks Dan Boyle (22) yells at Columbus Blue Jackets Rick Nash (61) after Boyle fought with another Blue Jackets player in the third period at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. (Nhat V. Meyer/Staff)

TAMPA, Fla. -- Dan Boyle didn't need to pack any bitterness for this latest return to the city where he won the 2004 Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The owners who all but forced him to waive his no-trade clause are no longer in control. And one of the two -- Len Barrie -- is under criminal investigation for fraud involving his British Columbia development and has been evicted from his mansion near Victoria.

"There was definitely some resentment, some anger," Boyle said Wednesday, recalling his first trip back to Tampa about six months after his July 4, 2008, trade to the Sharks. "But if I look across now, there's not one guy I can be mad at."

Boyle should be in good spirits for more than one reason when the Sharks face the Lightning on Thursday night at the St. Pete Times Forum. After struggling through the first third of the season, things are back on track.

Over the first 27 games, Boyle only had one goal and 11 assists, putting him on pace for 36 points. Over the next 27 games, he has four goals and 15 assists -- a pace that equals his most productive seasons with the Sharks when he scored 57 and 58 points.

His defensive play has improved as well. At the one-third mark, he was a minus-2; since then, he is a plus-13. Turnovers, which may have reached a peak with four against the Florida Panthers on Dec. 3, are significantly down as well with Boyle registering no more than one in his past dozen games.

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Eventually, Boyle blamed much of his early season difficulties on trying to play with a broken foot that was previously undisclosed.

The turnaround also coincided with a change in defensive partners. A Dec. 3 injury to Douglas Murray prompted coach Todd McLellan to pair Boyle with Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Not that Murray was creating the problem, but the new combination immediately clicked. Even with increased responsibilities on the ice against the opposition's top players, his offensive numbers began to jump.

"It does change the way you play," Boyle said of his altered role. "In the past, I had more offense to my game. Now when you're playing against (Alex) Ovechkin and the top lines every night, your number one responsibility is to keep the puck out of your own net. You definitely take fewer chances."

He noted that he had to "up my game defensively. And I play the score, too. If we're down, I'm going. That's where it changes the last little bit."

Vlasic, who has been paired with Boyle short-term in the past, said this time things have gone more smoothly and that the two are pretty good at reading off each other.

"He's great in both zones," Vlasic said of Boyle. "To him, he's more offensive so he'd rather work more on his defensive game, but I think he's doing a great job. When I'm up there (on offense), I know he's got my back in the d-zone and vice-versa."

McLellan said the decision to pair Vlasic with Boyle was made to give them time to adapt to each other.

"When we did shuffle them up, it wasn't going to be a one-game thing," the coach said. "We talked about doing it for a while and seeing what we could get out of it and we've stuck with it."

McLellan accepts Boyle's explanation for his slow start -- "He knows his game better than any of us" -- but had a second reason for the turnaround as well.

"I think he's just seeing it a lot better right now," the coach said. "His vision's at an elite level. He's seeing plays, he's making plays. It's as simple as that."

Boyle still has several ties to Tampa Bay. His wife is from the area, and they have a parcel of gulf-front property south of St. Petersburg. His parents also spend their winters in a condo along one of the area's many beaches.

And as bad as things got with owners Barrie and Owen Koules, Boyle is happy about one thing. He is not among the 18 NHL players suing Barrie -- a former player himself who was a teammate of Boyle's with the Florida Panthers -- over losses totaling more than $13 million for their investment in his Bear Mountain resort development.

"I'm just thankful I didn't get involved with that," the Sharks defenseman said.